Religion and Politics: The new proposed amendments to state RFRAs seek to undo the result in Bob Jones, by exempting those who discriminate on religious grounds from the operation of statutes protecting civil rights. Supported by conservative religious groups such as the Beckett Fund and the Alliance Defending Freedom, such laws have become the go-to solution for states that seek to resist what they predict will be the law of marriage nationwide, after the Supreme Court decides the question by the end of its current term, in June 2015.

Life News: If you’re considering an abortion and want answers, help, or someone to talk with, send an email or chat online with OptionLine.org or call Pregnancy Line at 866-88-WOMAN. LifeNews Note: Kristi Burton Brown is a pro-life attorney, volunteering for Life Legal Defense Foundation and as an allied attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom. She is also a stay-at-home mom and an assistant editor for Live Action News. This column originally appeared at Live Action News and is reprinted with permission.

The Daily Caller: “All of these are part of a larger effort to make sure that religious speech can’t be targeted and censored simply because a government official finds it offensive,” ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp told TheDCNF. ”The courts have consistently held that even local principals are required to follow the first amendment in every regard.”

Alliance Defending Freedom: It might be helpful to understand what we mean by “conscience.” Conscience is what guides a person’s understanding of what is right or wrong, and this definition is OK, but it does not discuss what is naturally implied: action. If one cannot act on what they believe to be right or wrong, then what worth does a conscience have? None at all. For a good and just society, a person must have the freedom to act on what they believe is morally right. But that is not the current state of things.

The College Fix: The Alliance Defending Freedom will try to convince the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at a hearing tomorrow that a Texas school district can’t pick and choose which religious messages it will allow in commercial settings.

Baptist Standard: Cochran’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta by attorneys with the national conservative advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, claims Cochran followed proper procedure in notifying his superiors about his plans to write a book on his free time about ideas developed after leading a men’s Bible study at his church.

Life News: Casey Mattox, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, added, ““Forcing a church to be party to elective abortion is one of the utmost-imaginable assaults on our most fundamental American freedoms. California is flagrantly violating the federal law that protects employers from being forced into having abortion in their health insurance plans. No state can blatantly ignore federal law and think that it should continue to receive taxpayer money.”

Renew America: Alliance Defending Freedom Attorney, Kristen Waggoner, said the Attorney General of Washington state had used “the full power of his office to personally and professionally destroy her.” Moreover, Waggoner said gays and lesbians were setting Stutzman up by inundating her business with requests to provide flowers for gay weddings. Waggoner said each time they came into Stutzman’s business she would get tagged with a $2000 fine. Plus, legal fees were expected to run into seven figures.

Journal Scene: “We had one school district who told a teacher she could not play Christian Christmas carols in the classroom during class changes in the school,” he said, adding his team is working with a legal team, Alliance Defending Freedom, the same group that was involved in the Hobby Lobby case, to pass legislation that will allow people to celebrate Christmas in public schools.

ADF Media: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys will be available for media interviews following oral arguments in a federal appeals court Tuesday on behalf of a faith-based organization prohibited from advertising on a Texas school district’s Jumbotron during football games.

Glenn Beck: TheBlaze had a big story yesterday on the Washington state florist who was found guilty of discrimination for refusing service for a same-sex wedding. The florist isn’t backing down, claiming that she would be violating her religious beliefs. Glenn had the story on radio today, and gave his thoughts on whether or not a business could deny a service based on their religious beliefs.

The Washington Examiner: “It’s puzzling it’s taking them six months for them to weigh in at all,” said Casey Mattox, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, one of two groups representing the churches. The other group is the Life Legal Defense Foundation.

Voa Cantonese (translated via Google): A florist in Washington state for the sake of faith refuse to provide services to same-sex weddings, the other side is the Minister of State to constitute discrimination on the grounds of Justice sued the state court. Some people criticized the government’s approach is to suppress religious freedom of individual citizens, but also the owner was accused in the guise of religious discrimination homosexuals.

Noticia Cristiana (translated by Google): Kristen Waggoner, Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer representing Stutzman said in a statement: “You put your home, the family business, and life savings at risk for daring to defy a government mandate requiring promotion views that you think are wrong. ”

The Global Dispatch: “The people of Missouri – like the people of every state – should be free to affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman in their laws,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jim Campbell. “As the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in itsWindsor decision last year, marriage law is the business of the states. Federal courts should not reinterpret the Constitution to prevent the states from affirming marriage as it has existed in their states since the time of their founding.”

Worthy News: “The message of these rulings is unmistakable: the government will bring about your personal and professional ruin if you don’t help celebrate same-sex marriage,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner. “Laws that are supposed to prohibit discrimination might sound good, but the government has begun to use these laws to hurt people—to force them to conform and to silence and punish them if they don’t violate their religious beliefs on marriage.”

Bowling with Ed: The Washington Attorney General is exerting the weight of his office on a 70-year-old grandmother. Amazingly, that grandmother is still standing. But she could lose everything she owns, all because she is unwilling to abandon her religious convictions and create unique artistic expression that violates her beliefs.

The Blaze: “The message of these rulings is unmistakable: the government will bring about your personal and professional ruin if you don’t help celebrate same-sex marriage,” said Kristen Waggoner, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the nonprofit that’s representing Stutzman. “Laws that are supposed to prohibit discrimination might sound good, but the government has begun to use these laws to hurt people – to force them to conform and to silence and punish them if they don’t violate their religious beliefs on marriage.”

One News Now: Attorneys from the Home School Legal Defense Association and the Alliance Defending Freedom are representing Ellinor and Daniel Petersen in the lawsuit filed with the ECHR. Acknowledging the European court’s track record on homeschooling, both Christian nonprofit organizations are prepared for an uphill battle, noting that its judges have been, for the most part, aggressively opposed to homeschoolers over the years.

First Things: Ms. Stutzman isn’t complying. She’s refusing to settle. Not only is she not complying, she has responded in defiance, and rightfully so. She’s called their bluff. She’s said to the state: “Bring it on.” She has counted the cost and determined that the sacredness of her conscience cannot be exchanged for handouts from the state.

Alliance Defending Freedom: A Washington state judge ruled that local floral artist and grandmother Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers violated state law by refusing to provide floral design and arrangements for a long-time customer’s same-sex ceremony. Not only is her business in jeopardy, but Barronelle also faces losing her home and life-savings to the opposing sides’ damages and attorneys’ fees associated with the lawsuit filed against her by both the state and the same-sex couple.

Alliance Defending Freedom: This week, in newspapers and on radio and TV programs across America, the “wanted posters” for bigotry bear a picture of Barronelle Stutzman. So take a good look at her story, and decide.

Examiner: On February 19, 2015, the ADF stated that they are appealing the ruling and ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner, who argued before the court, said of the decision, “The message of these rulings is unmistakable… there is no tolerance for those who disagree with the state’s view of marriage. The couple had no problem getting the flowers they needed. In fact, they received several offers for free flowers. So, where’s the tolerance for Barronelle Stutzman? It’s hard to believe that Barronelle should prepare to have everything she has earned and built seized by the state just because of her beliefs about marriage.”

Fox News: In 1962, in the middle of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the State of New York required Harry Keyishian and four other employees of the University of Buffalo to certify they were not communists to keep their jobs. Fast forward to 2015. Apparently, the city of Atlanta thinks former Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran should be treated the same way because of his Christian beliefs.

Daly Focus: The encroachment of Christian merchants’ religious liberties continues: “Florist Who Refused to Serve Gay Couple Rejects Settlement.” What the headline doesn’t tell you is one member of the homosexual couple was Barronelle Stutzman’s long-term client, who she gladly served for years before gently declining participation in his same-sex wedding ceremony due to her religious beliefs. Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are representing this soft-spoken grandma who is risking financial ruin.

Catholic News Agency: However, critics pointed to Saperstein’s opposition to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision as evidence of a dubious record on domestic religious liberty. The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom said it was “troubling” that Saperstein believed businesses were not protected from the HHS birth control mandate.

ADF Media: Alliance Defending Freedom filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit Tuesday that encourages the court to uphold the freedom of the people of Missouri to affirm marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In November 2014, a district court ruled that the state’s marriage laws are unconstitutional and that marriage licenses must be issued to same-sex couples.

Get Religion: Now for the comparative nitpicks. One is the labeling of Cochran’s backers, like Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council, as “conservative religious groups.” When the Post lists friends of the city, including Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign, it doesn’t call them “liberal secular groups.” Those are known here as “LGBT rights groups.” Rights, as you know, trump religion.

World Magazine: The standoff between the City of Atlanta and its former fire chief highlights much more than an employer-employee disagreement. At stake is freedom of religious expression. Former fire chief Kelvin Cochran last week filed a lawsuit in federal court over his firing. He claims he lost his job because of a Christian men’s devotional book he wrote and self-published. Politicians and activists branded the book as anti-gay and said the chief had to go.

The Global Dispatch: Washington floral artist Barronelle Stutzman sent a letter to Attorney General Bob Ferguson to decline the settlement offer he made to her on Thursday through a news release he sent to the media.

Christian Today: ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner said: “The message of these rulings is unmistakable: there is no tolerance for those who disagree with the state’s view of marriage. The couple had no problem getting the flowers they needed. In fact, they received several offers for free flowers. So, where’s the tolerance for Barronelle Stutzman? It’s hard to believe that Barronelle should prepare to have everything she has earned and built seized by the state just because of her beliefs about marriage.”

Fox News: WAGGONER: Yes. The attorney general contacted the couple. They didn’t file the initial complaint. The attorney general took it on after reading reports in the media. And the attorney general has relentlessly pursued Barronelle ever since. The court’s decision, as well as the attorney general’s actions are sending a very clear unmistakable message Barronelle and anyone like her which is that if you dare to decline the government will bring about your personal and your professional ruin if you don’t help celebrate same-sex marriage.

Law and Religion Australia: One of the most vexed questions in the religious freedom area at the moment is the clash between religious views and support for same sex marriage, and three cases in which this clash has been evidenced all involve people in what might be called the “wedding support industries”- a florist, a baker and a photographer.

CNS News: Religious freedom, and the right of every individual to follow the dictates of his or her conscience, is a principle so hallowed in the American soul that our nation’s courtrooms, classrooms, and most corners of the public square have honored and sustained it for more than 200 years.

National Review:Late last week, Chief Cochran filed suit against Atlanta, and the complaint – drafted by my good friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom — makes for interesting reading. According to the sworn allegations, Chief Cochran not only hadn’t discriminated against LGBT employees, he’d taken affirmative steps to seek the input of representatives from multiple constituencies, including LGBT employees, when he drafted a document called the Atlanta Fire Rescue Doctrine, a document that helped articulate the department’s “vision, mission, and governing philosophies.”

Life Site News: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley told LifeSiteNews that the toolkits show hypocrisy on the part of the Obama administration. “The federal government only wants churches to have free speech rights if the church agrees to speak about things it thinks are acceptable,” Stanley told LifeSiteNews. “While it’s not illegal for [the Department of Health and Human Services] to ask churches to talk about ObamaCare, it is ironic considering that the federal government, through the tax code, prohibits pastors from speaking freely from the pulpit on other issues.”

The Vanguard: The lawsuit filed last April was put into motion by the USA Students for Life group in conjunction with the Alliance Defending Freedom, an alliance-building legal ministry that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

Christian News Network: But the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) contended that Ferguson’s actions were inappropriate since he never received a complaint, but rather filed on his own volition. It also filed a motion asking that Ferguson and the ACLU—which filed a separate suit—be prohibited from attacking Stutzman on a personal level.

CrossMap (CNA/EWTN News): “Laws that are supposed to prohibit discrimination might sound good, but the government has begun to use these laws to hurt people – to force them to conform and to silence and punish them if they don’t violate their religious beliefs on marriage,” Waggoner said.

The Blaze: “Attorney General [Bob Ferguson] has relentlessly pursued her personal and professional ruin because she will not celebrate same-sex marriage. His settlement proposal offered nothing new,” Kristen Waggoner said. “The attorney general continues to pursue her business and personal assets unless she agrees to stop designing wedding arrangements and providing wedding support services for all weddings.”

Baptist News: The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the couple in April 2013, followed by a consumer protection lawsuit by Attorney General Bob Ferguson the same week. Stutzman, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, countersued the attorney general claiming “sincerely held religious convictions” that the Bible teaches that marriage is the union of a woman and a man prevented her from using her creative talents in a way that would imply endorsement of same-sex marriage.

Denny Burk: If you haven’t been following Barronelle Stutzman’s case in Washington State, you need to be. She is the florist being sued by the state attorney general for refusing to participate in a gay wedding. The attorney general is trying to compel her to ignore her Christian faith and to participate in gay weddings.

11 Alive: “The conversation I had with the city was more about impact. If this was something that the chief really believed in personally, did it manifest in any way in the way he managed or supervised people?” Wan explained.

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Family Studies: Last week, the New York Times chronicled the dramatic case of two babies switched at birth. Two decades ago, two mothers came home from a hospital in southern France with the wrong daughters. As the girls got older it became increasingly clear that they had little biological resemblance to their parents. Indeed, the father of one girl left her mother because he was suspicious of the girl’s origins.

Fox News: So you can imagine Jeff’s extreme displeasure when organizers of an Alabama barbecue competition ordered him – along with other competitors to take down the American flags hanging from their barbecue trailers.

Life News: For the second time in two years, pro-abortion West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has vetoed a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on unborn babies who studies show can feel intense pain.